Archives for November 2020

New York Real Estate Market: Prices | Trends | Forecast 2021

November 30, 2020 by Marco Santarelli

We'll be discussing the current state of the NYC real estate market as well as the statewide data. New York City is among the most expensive and competitive housing markets in the nation. It has also been among the most hard-hit by the COVID-19 pandemic. However, buyers have made a swift comeback since the reopening of the economy this summer, which led to a busy fall home-shopping season.

The current trends show that the New York housing market continues to be hyperactive in cold weather with sales higher than normal levels. The New York real estate market (statewide) continued to be sizzling hot in October 2020 with both sales and prices increasing by double digits as compared to last year.

The closed sales increased by 16.6 percent from 12,853 units in October 2019 to 14,981 last month while pending sales skyrocketed by a 38.8 percent increase from October of last year, according to the housing report released by the New York State Association of REALTORS^®.

Housing inventory remained low through October. Active listings decreased by 20.9 percent compared to last year at the same time. Months supply of inventory dropped 23.2 percent – from 5.6 months to 4.3 months. The statewide median sold price in New York increased by 24.5 percent to $340,000 in year-over-year comparisons. The average sold price also increased from $362,572 to $441,020 – an increase of 21.6 percent year-over-year. [Read more…]

San Francisco Bay Area Real Estate Market & Investment 2021

November 27, 2020 by Marco Santarelli

This article has been updated to reflect recent changes in the San Francisco Bay Area housing market. Motivated home buyers drove prices and sales up in October in a tight housing market. As mortgage rates hit another record low in October, homes are being snatched up quickly, with bidding wars driving Bay Area home prices well above asking prices. The median sale price of an existing Bay Area single-family home climbed to $1.1 million in October, which was up 3.8% from September and 17% higher than last October.

These trends are defying the usual slowdown that hits the real estate market in the fall. The summer buying season has carried over to the fall and is in full swing. According to C.A.R., Bay Area's housing price growth was the second-largest price increase in the state of California after the Central Coast that led the pack with an increase of 25.9 percent (YTY).

Within the Bay Area housing market, San Francisco was the only county with a drop in price, with its median price declining 1.5 percent from October of last year. All counties of the San Francisco Bay Area except Solano experienced year-over-year sales gain in double-digit percentages with Santa Clara posting the highest sales growth of 32.4% followed by San Mateo (29.1%).

[Read more…]

California Real Estate Market: Prices | Trends | Forecast 2021

November 25, 2020 by Marco Santarelli

The California housing market took a breather in October as home sales and price gains declined as compared to the previous month but still recorded double-digit increases from a year ago. Despite a minor decline in the off-season, the consistent V-shaped recovery points to the housing strength for several more months. Intense demand has pushed home-value & sales growth to record levels in the California real estate market.

Mortgage rates are at record lows and builders are having trouble keeping up with the demand. After setting new record highs for four straight months, the median home price dipped on a month-to-month basis for the first time in five months, as reported by C.A.R. The median price for all homes sold in California fell only 0.2% to $711,300 down from September’s record high of $712,430.

Home sales dipped 1.0 percent from September, yet they are still 19.9% up from a year ago. The total sales in October climbed above the 400,000 level for the fourth straight month since the outbreak of the pandemic. C.A.R.’s monthly Consumer Housing Sentiment Index for November found that 59% of consumers believe it is a good time to sell their home, up 3% from last month and up 11% from last year.

Home-buyers across California’s biggest cities such as Los Angeles, San Jose, San Diego, Sacramento, and San Francisco are among the most active in purchasing real estate. These markets saw the biggest jump in new mortgages during the third quarter of 2020, according to research by ATTOM Data Solutions.

[Read more…]

Las Vegas Real Estate Market: Prices | Trends | Forecast 2021

November 21, 2020 by Marco Santarelli

The Las Vegas housing market is sizzling hot with prices surging month over month. Even during these tough times, the Las Vegas properties are selling at record prices and rental homes continue to be in demand. The unemployment rate is still more than 10% but it has got no effect on the housing or rental demand. The avg. rent is up 37.8% for a studio apartment, up 26.3% for 1BR, and up 25.1% for 2BR in Las Vegas (source: Apartmentguide).

It is no doubt Las Vegas is a strong seller's real estate market and the supply of available single-family homes has shrunk to less than two months. Although the pandemic is still causing disruptions, there is no downturn happening in the Southern Nevada housing market. The market has recovered and reached new heights this year. In fact, the Las Vegas housing market is among those cities that are showing the most signs of a positive recovery from the pandemic. Nevada's unemployment rate was at its peak in April (30.0%).

It has now dropped to 12.0% as of October 2020, down from 12.5 percent in September but up 8.3 percentage points when compared to October 2019, according to Local Area Unemployment Statistics (LAUS). As the local economy rebounds and the unemployment rate reduces further, it will have an indirect impact on this region's housing market.

Low unemployment leads to higher future income which in turn leads to a higher demand for housing. Hence, Las Vegas, as well as the Southern Nevada housing market, will boom in 2021. The home values are predicted to rise by 7-8% in the next twelve months (check the forecast below). It has already heated up with strong demand and a shrinking supply driving home price peaks.

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Portland Real Estate Market Trends & Investment Overview

November 18, 2020 by Marco Santarelli

The Portland housing market is sizzling hot. Despite the economic slowdown caused by the pandemic, the Portland real estate market continues to connect buyers to sellers. In October, 3155 residential properties in Portland metro area changed hands, according to the latest report by the Portland Metropolitan Association of Realtors®.

The inventory is so tight in this housing market that the median sale price rose to $435,000, an increase of $1,500 from September 2020. There’s a lot of competition among real estate buyers in Portland due to the extreme shortage of available homes for sale. Although new listings were up from the previous month the coronavirus has also significantly reduced the number of homes for sale in the Portland metro area.

In a tight housing market like Portland, it can take some time to find a property that meets all of your criteria. According to Realtor.com, in October 2020, the median list price of homes in Portland, OR was $500K, trending up 8.7% year-over-year. The median sale price was $488,400. Ideally, a buyer would prefer a sale to list price ratio that’s closer to 90% but homes sold for approximately the asking price on average (Sale-to-List Price Ratio: 100%).

This shows that Portland is a seller's real estate market, which means there are roughly more buyers than there are active homes for sale. The higher buyer turnout and low inventory is favoring sellers. On average, homes in Portland sell after 47 days on the market. The trend for median days on market in Portland, OR has gone up since last month, and slightly down since last year.

[Read more…]